15th Annual Meeting of the
	OECD Network on Fiscal Relations across Levels of Government
	15 Year Anniversary Meeting
	2-3 December 2019
Opening	Junghun Kim, Chair of the Fiscal Network
Introductory Remarks	Ulrich Knudsen, OECD Deputy Secretary General
Session 2a	Recent Developments in Inter-governmental Relations
	Countries engaging in reforms of their inter-governmental fiscal relations and equalisation systems will share their recent experiences, kicked off by the Netherlands. Among the questions to be discussed will be how effective are fiscal equalisation systems in achieving their objectives?
Presentation	Geert de Joode, Fiscal Federalism Co-ordinator, Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations, the Netherlands: Fiscal equalisation: the Dutch case
Presentation	Hilde Marie Skarvang, Senior Adviser, Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation, Norway: Fiscal equalisation: experiences from Norway
	Johan Wikström, Swedish Ministry of Finance
Presentation	Steven Kenyon; South African National Treasury: Overview of intergovernmental fiscal reforms in South Africa
Session 2b	Recent Developments in Inter-governmental Relations
	Delegates and invitees are invited to share their experiences with challenges and on-going reforms, in light of the draft Synthesis by the Secretariat, with rounds covering fiscal devolution, sectoral reforms, administrative restructuring and the development of municipal debt markets. An underlying question is how can intergovernmental fiscal relations be made more effective?
Presentation	Werner Weber, Head of Fiscal Equalisation, Department of Finance, Switzerland: Recent developments in intergovernmental relations
Presentation	Zowie Hay,Head, Tax Strategy & Policy Engagement Division, Welsh Treasury, United Kingdom: Recent developments in intergovernmental relations in Wales
	Alina Tatarenko, Head of the Centre of Expertise For Good Governance, Directorate General II – Democracy, Council of Europe
Presentation	Hyun-A Kim, Korea Institute of Public Finance: Recent development of fiscal decentralization in Korea
Presentation	Sean Dougherty (Head of Network Secretariat): Comparing fiscal equalisation systems looking at 2019 data
Presentation	Dorothée Allain-Dupré, Head of Unit, Economic Analysis and Multi-level Governance Division (CFE) OECD: The world observatory on subnational government finance and investment: key findings
Session 3	Spending Autonomy Benchmarking and the new Observatory’s work
	A new set of indicators of sub-national spending autonomy will be presented, making use of the Network’s recent sectoral studies to build new economy-wide indicators. Broader advances in multi-level government fiscal data, which are being developed through the World Observatory of Subnational Government Finance and Investment.
Presentation	Professor Jaroslaw Kantorowicz (Expert); OECD Secretariat (CFE): Spending autonomy of SNGs: conceptualisation and measurement
Background paper	Spending Autonomy of Sub-central Governments: Conceptualisation and Measurement, by Jarosław Kantorowicz and Bob Jurriaan van Grieken
Session 4	Digitalisation and Multi-Level Governance Implications
	In light of ongoing technological advances and increasing digitalisation across many areas of government, there is an increased need for intergovernmental co-operation and further reforms of fiscal relations to address the challenges and opportunities.
Presentation	Teresa Ter-Minassian, former Director of Fiscal Affairs Dept. (IMF): The digital revolution and subnational governments: opportunities and challenges
Presentation	Andres Felipe Munoz Miranda, Inter-American Development Bank: The Digital Revolution Challenges and Opportunities for Sub-national Governments (Room Document Discussion)
Session 5	Public Sector Performance in Housing and Infrastructure
	A study will be discussed that examines the organisation of the housing market across levels of government, and how the assignment of responsibilities may affect outcomes. This contributes to the OECD’s horizontal project. In addition, a scoping paper on infrastructure and intergovernmental co-operation will be presented.
Presentation	Laurens Ivens*, Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam; OECD Secretariat (CFE): Decentralisation and Governance in the Housing Sector
Presentation	Petr Gandalovič, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the OECD: Housing Selected issues, Czech Republic
Presentation	Simon Pasquali, Head of Division, Centre for Local Government Economics, Ministry of Finance, Denmark: Public housing in Denmark
Session 6	Special Session on Fiscal Decentralisation in China
	A special guest representing China’s State Council will discuss their intergovernmental fiscal arrangements, and explore how performance budgeting for subnational entities may help to address recent challenges. Guests from South Africa and the United States will relate these challenges to their own countries’ experiences.
Presentation	Lu Mai, Vice Chairman, China Development Research Foundation: The Path to "Transparency, Accountability and Efficiency” Government: Performance-based Budgeting Reform in China
Presentation	Daniel Plaatjies, Chair, Financial & Fiscal Commission, South Africa: The South African fiscal decentralisation system & performance based budgeting
Presentation	David Rowe, Deputy Assistant Director, US Office of Management and Budget: Performance Budgeting for Sub-National Entities
Session 7	Sub-National Accounting Issues & Fiscal Risks
	The Sub-national fiscal problems can become national fiscal problems, and the scope of accounts can affect the ability of national governments to monitor risks. Based on a new survey of country accounting practices across levels of government, this study examines practices and the scope of problems. How could practices be improved further, and how can national governments make better use of available information?.
Presentation	Tim Irwin (Expert): Allowing the stitch in time: the role of accounting in the early revelation of sub-national fiscal risks
Presentation	Kate Phipps, Division Head, Commonwealth-State Relations, Treasury, Australia
Presentation	Adèle Lieber, Deputy Director, Tax, Financial and Economic Advise, French Service of Local Authorities (DGFiP)
Session 8	Tax Autonomy Benchmarking and 2020 Update
	Proposed improvements for the next round of tax autonomy indicators will also be discussed, as well as findings from the recent working paper reviewing the past 20 years of benchmarking tax autonomy, including a unique case study of US States.
Presentation	Professor Andrew Reschovsky (Expert); OECD Secretariat (CTP): Twenty years of tax autonomy across levels of government measurement and application
Working paper	Fiscal Federalism Working Paper Number 29: Twenty years of tax autonomy across levels of government: Measurement and applications
Session 9	Country support work – the case of Lithuania
	A country policy support project for Lithuania to strengthen local government financing will be presented, supported by the European Commission’s SRSS Programme. The potential for synergies with Network work will be discussed.
Presentation	Camila Vammalle (Expert); Ricardas Kasperavicius, Senior Advisor, Financial Policy Department, Lithuanian Ministry of Finance: Improving the capacity of lithuanian municipalities to borrow and manage debt
Session 10	Work Programme Lunch Discussion (for Network Members only)
	Thematic priorities for future Fiscal Network work will be collected and discussed, as well as the strategy for engaging with partner economies. Highlights from the recent workshop on Ageing and Long-term Challenges will also be shared.
Presentation	Sean Dougherty (Head of Network Secretariat): Fiscal Network Members
Working paper	Fiscal Federalism Working Paper Number 30: Population ageing and sub-central governments: Long-term fiscal challenges